Behind the scenes and lessons at Jones Family Farms in Shelton, CT

Earth song fills the air in spring

Resolve this season of Earth Day to be more attentive to the gifts bestowed on us by our beloved planet. If you live near a tree or any spring green foliage, throw open your windows and let the songs of Mother Earth filter into your home. For this spring season, try awaking to the songs of birds as they usher in each new day.

Do you have a favorite? Mine is the wood thrush whose sweet notes always soothe the human soul each evening or at the breaking of dawn. Their songs are the perfect alarm clock.

If you live near a wetland, the iconic sounds of spring peepers provide a perfect choral background to bird songs. My grandson, Sam, says his favorite bird song is the peaceful cooing of the mourning dove, while my wife of 48 years, Jean, loves the syncopated orchestral percussion of wood peckers.

We also enjoy the almost raucous cheeping of our barn swallows as they hasten to build nests in the rafters of our tractor sheds. After their eggs hatch, they take to the air and gracefully swoop over our fields to capture insects to feed their young.

Whatever your favorite, the bird songs of the many species here in Connecticut are a gift we seldom fully appreciate.

Mother Earth seems to conduct the orchestra of bird song in a most pleasing way. The mingling bird languages please the human ear. By the way, there is a human counterpart to the pleasant songs that a mixed population of bird life provides. Just pass by a school yard where children are at play outside and you will hear the same joyful harmony as their diverse happy voices blend together. I am thrilled as the migrating bird species arrive back to our Connecticut fields, forests, parks, and yards. Spring is here!

They have made long journeys but enjoy the freedom to cross oceans and continents without the impediment of man-made borders and restrictions. I am most amazed at the punctual arrival of a pair of Great Egrets who find our pond each year after their long flight from the Amazon rain forest of South America.

Also, this spring give thanks for the sound of “water song.” After a long but gentle overnight rain, the farm brooks and springs begin to sing again. Their long silence was broken after many months of drought. Although life-giving rains began in late September, it had taken many storms to deeply moisten the land. The trickling of springs and babble of brooks is not what most modern Americans long to hear, but for the farmer in me, it is a sweet and beautiful sound! It reassures us that Nature is resilient and is a humbling reminder that life depends on Her generosity.

As May approaches, the rustle of green leaves mixes with our soundscape of birds and water. The grit of mud season is overcome by the growing greens.

As if by magic, our outside view changes as the growing green leaves create a new landscape for us. The winter views of our neighbor’s yard goes clandestine behind the foliage and we now enjoy the glory of trees draped in spring green. All the while, the leaves are purifying our air and fulfilling our human need for oxygen.

This Earth Day (and beyond), let us open our senses to the sounds and sights of Mother Earth. Take care of Her and She will take care of us.

Terry Jones is a Shelton farmer and grandfather. He is chair of Connecticut’s Working Lands Alliance and a member of the Connecticut State Board of Education.